Canadian Coup
Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper
In case you're not following the news in Canada, the country has their hockey pants in a knot. They had an election in Oct. which returned Stephen Harper and the Conservatives as the controlling party.
This week, the spurned parties decided to form a coalition to effectively overthrow the elected government.
I asked Chiat/Day alum and foreign correspondent Scot Blakely to explain the situation up North. On Monday, the Prime Minister (Harper) is expected to ask the Governor-General to suspend Parliament.
Over to you, Scot ...
Things are really going nuts up here with all of this.Here's how it works: The Governor General is appointed by the Prime Minister. She (the first woman to have this title) reports to the Queen. The Queen is notified of every policy before it is approved. Normally she just says ok. Right now, the three main opposing parties (which have more seats together then the governing party) have banded together to oust Harper by creating a coalition government of all three parties governing! Its historic and never happened before!
If the majority of Parliament is not the governing party, and the majority of them disagree with Harper's planned policies and block him, he then can call for a national election to try and gain more seats to approve his policies! BUT since all 3 opposing parties disagree with him they have banded together! We have already had three elections this year! So its doubtful Harper will call another election until next year (if he is not unseated) Harper called an election last month and his party won more seats again, by a small margin. But because we have 4 main parties its not a 50/51 issue. The party who wins has the most seats BUT with the 3 other main parties having more seats together and by deciding to band together, they become one and therefore can create this coalition government and pick a new Prime Minister who's party has the most seats amongst the 3 parties. This coalition government would be for 2 years. Have I lost you yet?Also, In Canada, we have the Vote of confidence. If the majority of the government disagrees with the Prime Minister they can call for an election. Sometimes he loses but sometimes he wins So.. generally a Prime Minister has 4 years but if a speacial election is called and he wins, he gets another 2 years. And so on.
The reason for all of this is because the opposing parties disagree with Harpers proposed budget. So... Harper and his governing party can call to close down Parliament until the next session in January and call for a new election (which the Govorner General has to approve as well) or call for another election now and hope to win more seats.
We think the Governor-General will go with Harper on this and not allow the coalition government because then the new Prime Minister would be appointed by the coalition and not voted by the people. Canada is a democracy not a republic so the popular votes is what counts. However, some think she may go with this idea because its never been done before, too much money has been spent on elections this year already, and its really the first time her position has been challenged in such an authoritative way. The Queen must be pissing her pants right now! LOL
This is the most historic and evolving moment in Canada's history!
You are right about Harper the sweater boy with demon eyes (that's what we call him) His policies and ideals are very similar to Bush's. If you noticed in his speech he used codes words such as Separatist, Socialism, and Liberal many times. Sound familiar? These are the three opposing parties: The Bloc Quebecois, The NDP (The New Democratic Party) and the Liberals. The Bloc party is the party of the die hard Quebecers who want to secede from Canada The New Democrats are like the US Liberals The Liberals are like the US Democrats.
The conservatives of the west hate the Bloc. The Bloc hates all Anglos and the NDP and Liberals love everyone! LOL
It is quite complicated to say the least and very interesting indeed!
xoxoxox
Scot